Television receiver, method of controlling the receiver, and network construction device

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, the present invention is designed to automatically determine the language of the content distributed when connecting to the Web server so as to agree with the language configured at the initial setup. The present invention has following elements. An initial setup module maintains initial setup information that indicates at least a menu language. A setup information association process module which determines a language request signal to request a language the same as the menu language indicated in the initial setup information. And a network control module which accesses the World Wide Web while transmitting the language request signal to determine a browser language.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/419,929, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,256, which is based upon and claimsthe benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No.2008-169085, filed Jun. 27, 2008, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

One embodiment of the invention relates to a television receiver, amethod of controlling the receiver and a network construction device,especially to an improved web server connection function and connectingmethod.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recent personal computers can readily establish connection to a WorldWide Web (WWW) server by way of the Internet. Most personal computersare provided with a browser function so that various types ofinformation can be downloaded from the server and viewed. A WWW serverdoesn't offer information to a specific country but across the world.For this reason, language content that is attached to moving imagecontent (or still image content) is prepared in different languages.Thus, when access is made from a personal computer to a WWW server torequest content, a language request signal (display language requestsignal) is transmitted. Then, the WWW server analyzes the languagerequest signal to determine the language requested by the user anddelivers content in this language.

Recently, most digital television receivers are also provided with anInternet connection function. In a similar manner to the above computer,a digital television receiver of this type needs to transmit a languagerequest signal when requesting content from a WWW server. The receiver,however, has an initial setup function that is to be performed at thetime of purchase. The initial setup includes menu language and countrysettings (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-227199, forexample). This means that, for the conventional digital televisionreceiver, a language request signal needs to be transmitted to determinea language when accessing the WWW server by way of the Internet,separately from the settings of language and country, which makes theoperation irksome.

For the above reason, digital television receivers cause inconvenienceto the users. If the content is delivered in a language different fromthe set-up language when accessing the WWW server, some users maymistake this for a malfunction of the receiver because the initial setupis already completed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A general architecture that implements the various features of theinvention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Thedrawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrateembodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for showing an example structure of a televisionreceiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the screens of the televisionreceiver according to the present invention when it is actually put intouse.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the state of the television receiverthat is connected to a server by way of the Internet.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the state of the television receiverof FIG. 1 and other television receivers when connected to the server byway of the Internet.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining another example of the operation ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a further example of the operation ofthe present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for showing a remote controller that is used for thereceiver of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining another example of a menu screen ofthe receiver of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments according to the invention will be describedhereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings. An object ofthe embodiments of the present invention is to offer a televisionreceiver which can automatically maintain consistency between a languagethat is initially configured and a language of content that is deliveredwhen connected to the web server, a method of controlling such areceiver and a network construction device.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided anapparatus comprising: an initial setup module configured to maintaininitial setup information that indicates at least a menu language; asetup information association process module configured to determine alanguage request signal to request a language the same as the menulanguage indicated in the initial setup information; and a networkcontrol module configured to access a server of the World Wide Web andtransmitting the language request signal at the same time to determine abrowser language.

FIG. 1 shows an example structure of a television receiver according tothe invention.

A tuner 101 receives, for example, a digital broadcast signal, decodesthe received signal, and supplies the decoded signal to a transportdecoder 102. Video and audio data in packets of a television programselected by the transport decoder 102 is input to an audio-video (AV)decoder 103 and decoded by the decoder 103.

The audio data decoded by the AV decoder 103 is output to a speaker 107,while the video data is output to a display 106. This video data may becombined with video data supplied by an on-screen display (OSD)controller 105 at a combining module 104.

An EEPROM 111 is incorporated to store, for example, programs forimplementing the functions of the television receiver and parameters forthe programs. A SDRAM 112 is incorporated to temporarily store data in aprocess of correcting errors in received signals.

A main bus 110 is connected to the transport decoder 102, the AV decoder103, the OSD controller 105, the EEPROM 111, the SDRAM 112 and the like.

The main bus 110 is connected to a controller 150 that controls theentire receiver. Furthermore, the receiver may be connected to anexternal device by way of the main bus 110. For this arrangement, themain bus 110 is connected to a net connection module 120, a remotecontrol interface 115 and an ATAPI interface 116. A hard disk drive(HDD) 117 may be connected by way of the interface 116, and a DVD drive119 may be connected by way of an interface 118.

AV streams divided by the transport stream decoder 102 may be stored inthe HDD 117 by way of the ATAPI interface 116. At the time ofreproduction, the AV streams read from the HDD 117 are decoded by the AVdecoder 103.

The AV decoder 103 reproduces audio and video signals from a transportstream. The decoder 103 also reproduces audio and video signals fromDVD-standard audio and video streams. The decoder 103 may be configuredto further reproduce audio and video signals from signals of otherstandards.

An AV encoder 113 is connected to the main bus 110 to convert picturedata to a specific format (for example, DVD-standard, transport stream,and baseband) so that the data can be stored in a recording medium. Theconverted AV information is recorded on a DVD or the like. In otherwords, the DVD-standard information is recorded on an optical disk byway of the DVD drive 119. The controller 150 controls all the abovedescribed blocks (or modules) in a centralized manner. The term “block”or “module” is generally defined as hardware and/or software.

The controller 150 is provided with an initial setup module 155 to makethe initial setup of the television receiver. The initial setup includes“country setting” to determine the country in which the receiver is usedand “language setting” to determine the menu language.

The controller 150 is also provided with a menu control module 156 todisplay a menu. The menu control module 156 selects a menu signal forthe setup language, and outputs the menu signal by way of the OSDcontroller 105.

The controller 150 further includes a browser function control module157. The browser function control module 157 displays the contentdelivered from the web server on the display 106.

The controller 150 still further includes a setup informationassociation process module 158. The setup information associationprocess module 158 is the main feature of the receiver, associating theinitial setup information with the browser function control module 157.This operation will be explained later in detail.

The controller 150 also includes a network control module 159. Thenetwork control module 159 accesses a web server 123 connected to theInternet 121, by way of the net connection module 120 in accordance withan address input or address selected by the user. When making the WWWaccess, the network control module 159 transmits a language requestsignal, which will be described later.

The controller 150 also includes a remote control command process module161. The remote control command process module 161 processes a commandthat is input from the remote controller 124 by way of the remotecontrol interface 115 so that the command is reflected to the operationof a corresponding function of the receiver.

The controller 150 may be further provided with a language contentselection module 162. When content of several different languages issupplied from the server, the language content selection module 162selects, for display, the language content of the language thatcorresponds to the language request signal.

FIG. 2 shows the screens of the display 106 of a television receiver100-1. These screens are presented when the user performs an initialsetup after purchasing the receiver. After the receiver is switched on,the user manipulates the menu button of the remote controller 124 andselects an item for the initial setup. As a result, Screen A of FIG. 2appears. The Screen A shows “1. Country setting” and “2. LanguageSetting”. The user manipulates the cursor key of the remote controller124 to move the cursor. For example, “1. Country setting” is selectedand the enter button is pressed. Then, a list of country names isdisplayed, although this is not shown in the drawing. The user placesthe cursor at a target country name and presses the enter button. Thecountry setting is now completed. The display returns to the Screen A,on which the cursor is placed at “2. Language setting”. When the userpresses the enter button, items including “1. English”, “2. French”, “3.Spanish”, “4. German” appear, together with a message “select language”,as indicated on Screen B.

When the user places the cursor at “3. Spanish” and presses the enterbutton, Screen C appears with a message “Language is set to Spanish”.When the “Exit” button is pressed, the language setup is completed, andthe screen returns to the main menu.

After the language is configured in the television receiver of thepresent invention, the setup information association process module 158automatically sets up a language request signal that is employed by thenetwork control module 159.

More specifically, the setup information association process module 158determines a language request signal for requesting the same language asthe one designated in the initial setup information. Then, the networkcontrol module 159 accesses the WWW server by way of the net connectionmodule 120 and transmits the language request signal at the same time inorder to determine the language of the browser. The language requestsignal is transmitted in the head packet when accessing the server 123.In other words, the Accept-Language header of the HTTP request ischanged to the description that agrees with the country and languagesettings.

With the above arrangement of the television receiver, the languagerequest signal required for the Internet access is automaticallydetermined if the menu language is selected at the initial setup. Thisimproves the user's operability, and eliminates the possibility of beingmistaken for a malfunction of the receiver.

FIG. 3 illustrates the relationship of the television receiver 100-1,the Internet 121 and the server 123. Language content is prepared, forexample, in English, French, Spanish and German in the server 123.

FIG. 4 shows television receivers 100-2 and 100-3, in addition to 100-1,which are connected to the server 123 by way of the Internet 121. Inthis drawing, because the television receiver 100-1 is set to Spanish,Spanish language content is delivered from the server 123 to thisreceiver. If the television receivers 100-2 and 100-3 are set to Frenchand English, respectively, the server 123 delivers the language contentof French and English individually to the television receivers 100-2 and100-3.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiment. If the server 123adopts a method of classifying content by country, the content may bedelivered in accordance with the information of “country setting”.

FIG. 5 shows the server 123 distributing content that corresponds to thecountry setup information configured in each of the television receivers100-1, 100-2 and 100-3. In other words, the initial setup module 155stores at least country setup information that is configured as initialsetup information. The setup information association process module 158establishes association with the country setup information, and thenetwork control module 159 accesses the WWW server while transmittingthe country setup information.

If the server 123 offers a simultaneous distribution service ofmulti-lingual content, the receiver may be designed to automaticallyselect language content corresponding to the setup language from thecontent of various languages.

FIG. 6 shows the server 123 simultaneously distributing multi-lingualcontent. Each of the receivers can determine and receive the languagecontent selected by the language content selection module 162. Whendifferent language content is sent from the server, the language contentselection module 162 selects the language content of the language thatcorrespond to the language request signal and adopts the languagecontent for display.

In the above description, the operation of selecting language content isdiscussed. It should be noted that compressed audio data may be suppliedfrom the server. In such a case, a speech language that corresponds tothe selected display language is selected.

FIG. 7 is an example external view of a remote controller. KE1 is aswitch for selecting TV, DVD and link mode. KE2 is a power switch, andKE3 are numeric input buttons. KE4 is a button for returning to aprevious program, KE5 is a button for selecting an external deviceinput, and KE6 is an analog/digital television switch. KE7 is a buttonfor changing a position of a program or a position on a text page, KE8is a TV volume change button, and KE9 is a mute setup button. Further,KE10 is an on-screen menu display button, and KE11 is an operationbutton for exiting the menu. The triangles of KE12 indicate the cursormoving directions, and “OK” is an enter button. KE13 is a button fordisplaying favorite programs in digital mode, KE14 is a button fordisplaying a program guide, and KE15 is a text control button. Inaddition, KE16 is a button for selecting a picture standard fromselectable TV standards, KE17 is a button for setting a wide screen, andKE19 is a button for calling up a text service.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the menu screen. This menu screenappears when setting up the television receiver. The language used inthe menu screen is set by default, for example, to English. When thepower switch is operated, “menu language” and “country” appear as aquick setup menu. The user can select a language from English, French orother languages, as the user wishes. For some television receivers, thecountry may already be configured as a factory default setting. If thisis the case, the “country” item would not be highlighted.

According to the above invention, the language for server connection isautomatically determined to agree with the language of the menu that isinitially set up by the user, which facilitates the operation of thereceiver and improves the usability.

While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, theseembodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are notintended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methodsand systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of otherforms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in theform of the methods and systems described herein may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims andtheir equivalents are intended to cover such forms of modifications aswould fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A television receiver comprising: a tuner forreceiving a digital broadcasting signal; a transport decoder forselecting a television program from the received digital broadcastingsignal; an initial setup module, operating within a controller, formaking an initial setup of the television receiver by cooperating with amenu control module and an on-screen display (OSD) controller to displaya menu screen from which a user selects a menu language from a varietyof languages as initial setup information and to maintain the initialsetup information as being initially set up; a network control module,operating within the controller, for accessing a server of the WorldWide Web and transmit a language request signal to the server in anAccept-Language header of the HTTP request when accessing the server todetermine a content language; and a setup information associationprocess module, operating within the controller, for determining saidlanguage request signal to request the same language as the selectedmenu language indicated in the initial setup information, wherein thelanguage request signal is automatically determined when the menulanguage is decided by the user during the initial setup of thetelevision receiver, wherein the language request signal is configuredto cause the server to deliver content in the selected menu language. 2.The television receiver of claim 1, further comprising: an audio-videodecoder for decoding video and audio data in packets of the televisionprogram such that audio data decoded by the audio-video decoder isoutput to a speaker and video data decoded by the audio-video decoder isoutput to a display, wherein the content delivered from the server isdecoded by the audio-video decoder.
 3. The television receiver of claim2, wherein the output of the speaker has a speech language and theoutput of the display has a display language.
 4. The television receiverof claim 2, wherein a speech language of the audio data decoded by theaudio-video decoder is the same language with the selected menulanguage.
 5. The television receiver of claim 2, wherein a displaylanguage of the video data decoded by the audio-video decoder is thesame language with the selected menu language.
 6. A method ofcontrolling a television receiver that includes a tuner for receiving adigital broadcasting signal, a transport decoder for selecting atelevision program from the received broadcasting signal, an initialsetup module that is adapted to perform an initial setup of thetelevision receiver that allows for selection of a selected menulanguage from a variety of languages and a network control module thatis adapted to access a server of the World Wide Web, the methodcomprising; transmitting a language request signal to a server in aAccept-Language header of an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requestin response to the television receiver accessing the server to determinea content language; and determining said language request signal torequest the same language as the selected menu language indicated in theinitial setup information, wherein the language request signal isautomatically determined when the menu language is decided by the userduring setting up of the television receiver, wherein the languagerequest signal is configured to cause the server to deliver content inthe selected menu language.
 7. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: decoding video and audio data in packets of the televisionprogram such that audio data decoded by the audio-video decoder isoutput to a speaker and video data decoded by the audio-video decoder isoutput to a display, wherein the content delivered from the server isdecoded by the audio-video decoder.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe output of the speaker has a speech language and the output of thedisplay has a display language.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein aspeech language of the audio data decoded by the audio-video decoder isthe same language with the selected menu language.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein a display language of the video data decoded by theaudio-video decoder is the same language with the selected menulanguage.
 11. A television receiver comprising: an on-screen display(OSD) controller; and a controller communicatively coupled to the OSDcontroller, the controller to (i) display a menu screen that allows auser to select a menu language from a variety of languages as initialsetup information and maintain the initial setup information, (ii)determine a language request signal to request a language identical tothe selected menu language indicated in the initial setup information,and (iii) transmit a language request signal in an Accept-Languageheader of an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request when accessing aserver to determine a content language, wherein the language requestsignal is automatically determined when the menu language is decidedduring an initial setup of the television receiver and the languagerequest signal is configured to cause the server to deliver content inthe selected menu language.
 12. The television receiver of claim 11,further comprising: a tuner to receive a digital broadcasting signal; atransport decoder to select a television program from the receiveddigital broadcasting signal; and an audio-video decoder for decodingvideo data and audio data in packets of the television program, theaudio data decoded by the audio-video decoder is output to a speaker andthe video data decoded by the audio-video decoder is output to adisplay, wherein the content delivered from the server is decoded by theaudio-video decoder.
 13. The television receiver of claim 12, whereinthe output of the speaker has a speech language and the output of thedisplay has a display language.
 14. The television receiver of claim 12,wherein a speech language of the audio data decoded by the audio-videodecoder is the same language with the selected menu language.
 15. Thetelevision receiver of claim 12, wherein a display language of the videodata decoded by the audio-video decoder is the same language with theselected menu language.